Retail sales fell in August as the automobile, electronics and clothing categories all fell back during the month. A drop in automobiles sales was expected due to the impact of Hurricane Harvey on high population cities in Texas.

The building materials category saw a 0.5% dip in sales in August, but is expected to jump higher over the next few months as rebuilding in Florida and Texas takes off.

If there was a surprise in the data it might have been with sales for nonstore retailers. Sales for the category which includes Amazon fell back 1.1% during the month.